I grew up in a very urban town where wild blueberries weren’t something I ever came across. Dandelions, sure, but not any type of wild berry. So when I realized there were blueberries and raspberries growing in our yard in Maine, I was basically beside myself with joy.
Every summer I will painstakingly bend over to pick every blueberry I possibly can. Then I will limp back to the house with my tiny crop which never yields enough to make a pie, but there are enough to make muffins. One day as I came back hunched over moaning in pain and covered in mosquito bites, my husband said “you know they sell blueberries at the store right?” Ha ha, yes I know that, but for me there is just some happiness associated with picking my own berries. However, I am putting a blueberry rake on my Christmas list because that happiness is starting to deplete with every year older I become.
Before I owned a “farm” I was never a big muffin baker. Every recipe I tried always seemed to be dry, or the edges were just too brown. Since my blueberry crop wasn’t large enough to make a pie, I decided to give muffins another shot and look for a good recipe. Well, here it is. They are moist, and almost seem too easy to make.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsps baking powder
1/3 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil)
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup blueberries
Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 tsps cinnamon
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a muffin tin or line with paper liners.
In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. In a measuring cup add the oil and egg. Add milk until it reaches the 1 cup mark. Combine the egg/milk mixture with the dry ingredients and mix well.
Fold in the blueberries.
Fill the muffin tins to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping if you like. I have made these with no topping, with just some sugar sprinkled on top, or with the crumb topping. Either way is just absolutely delicious!
For the crumb topping combine the sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon. Cut the mixture with a pastry cutter or with a fork.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Sometimes when I have enough raspberries to pick, I have added them to the recipe as well.
I will admit I have also made them with blueberries from the store, and they are just as good 🙂